a. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to inspection apparatus for use in wellbores in the oil and gas industries. In particular the invention relates in general to the field of transmission of data between downhole module in a wellbore and a controlling module at the surface.
b. Related Art
Accurate collection of geophysical data is a key to successful exploration and production in oil and gas industries. Based on data collected in a wellbore it is possible to determine whether a well is likely to be productive, and decisions can be made such as whether to drill additional wells near an existing well or whether to abandon a well as being unproductive.
Collecting wellbore data is known as well-logging. In well-logging, a telemetry module is lowered into a wellbore on a cable containing an inner core of insulated wire known as a wireline cable. The wireline cable provides power to equipment located at the end of the cable, and provides a pathway for electrical telemetry for communication between the surface and the telemetry module at the end of the cable.
The telemetry module is an electrically powered measurement device for inspecting the wellbore and is connected to a surface controller via the wireline cable.
Electrical digital and data control signals are transmitted between the surface controller and the downhole telemetry module via one or more conductors in the wireline cable. Downstream data signals are used to remotely control the functions of various downhole devices such as one or more cameras, motor tools to rotate a part of the module and to configure parameters for sensors such as temperature & pressure sensors, accelerometers and gyroscopes.
Upstream data signals transmit information from the telemetry module to the controller such as images, information indicative of the operation of the downhole devices or parameters detected or measured by the sensors.
The wellbore depth and hence the distance between the telemetry module and the surface controller may be many thousands of feet. Temperatures in the wellbore may rise to over 100 degrees Centigrade. The wireline cable must be designed to withstand the physical conditions and to sustain the weight of the telemetry module complete with tools connected beneath it and the length of the wireline cable as the telemetry module is lowered into the wellbore. The wireline cable is not primarily designed as a communications channel for efficiently transmitting modulated data signals and therefore the channel frequency response of the cable is not optimised for efficient data transmission.
Modulated data signals require synchronisation between the transmitter and receiver clocks in order to code and decode the data signal effectively. One problem with high temperature operation is that clock drift and hence synchronisation becomes more of an issue. Clocks usually vary by up to 10 ppm but at temperatures of 125° C. this can raise to 25-50 ppm. Also the signal attenuation at high frequency is much greater that at low frequencies.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,838,727 discloses a method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving acquired digital data over narrow bandpass channels with high signal to noise ratios and at high temperatures using quadrature amplitude modulation techniques.
However, maintaining clock synchronisation under these circumstances is difficult.
The present invention uses a novel QAM technique to maintain clock synchronisation.